subcool
Dank Creator
- Joined
- May 27, 2008
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I have to recycle parts of this story but when we get to the documentation part it will be all live. This is a really cool article I wrote with some great reference material.
Instead of starting at germinating some seeds we will go all the way back to me finding the mother strain.
The Color Purple
By Subcool
Purple Cannabis is all the rage in the Nocal clubs and it is highly sought after by both consumers and producers, lets explore this phenomenon and learn some things about Cannabis and Color. Do we see any great demand for purple today? Not in normal things because theyre readily available but when it comes to Purple Pot its another story.
Cannabis floral clusters are basically green, but changes may take place later in the season, which alter the color to include various shades. The intense green of chlorophyll usually hides the color of accessory pigments, Chlorophyll starts to loose its vibrant green color late in the season and anthocyanin pigments also contained in the tissues are uncovered and the amazing colors are produced at this time. Purple, resulting from anthocyanin accumulation, is extremely common in Cannabis, this color modification is usually triggered by seasonal change, and also can be influenced indoor by a temperature drop of between 20-30 degrees
This does not mean, however, that Purple is controlled by environment alone and it can be passed on genetically. For purple color to develop upon maturation, a strain must have the genetically controlled metabolic potential to make anthocyanin pigments and be responsiveness to environmental change such as cold nighttime temps. This means a strain can have the genetic potential to change color but if conditions never exist you may never know it. I have grown Jacks Cleaner for a long time and when I moved west and it found some dramatically cooler temps I got a nice maroon/ purple coloring at maturity.
There are other pigments that effect the color of mature cannabis for example Carotenoid is largely responsible for the yellow, orange, red, and brown colors in buds. I find this effect is much easier to accomplish in Organics and soil but in order to really call a strain Purple it needs to have more than colored outer leaves and the inner buds need to actually be Purple.
One aspect that I also find interesting is the purple potency debate, for those that have collected a few plants that produce Purple buds under any conditions like certain Black Russian phenotypes we have noticed something that seems to be consistent. When growing out females of a hybrid that have both color females and non colored females the colored one seems to always be less potent.
This doesnt mean I havent smoked great Purple weed,I just find it a rarity.
My friends grows a local Purple Urkle Clone that taste out of this world. It is a clone only strain that originated in Northern California It may be one of the better tasting Purple strains around and its purple to the center of the cola, every single part of the plant is purple. I would give the high intensity an 8 very enjoyable, something I might keep around and so far the one I like the most. After an afternoon session I determined its main attraction is the lip smacking Grape/Lavender taste of the smoke.
The Purps and Mendo Purps are both rumored to be good but I wasnt impressed with the first Mendo I sampled, it didnt taste at all grapey or berry like I may have been a poor sample though. We also sampled many strains in Amsterdam with color but none stood out. There are so many Purple cuts in California its hard to really know what any one really is but I recently smoked a Sputnik 2 female with nice outer purple that kicked my *** in about 3 hits. Recently Badboy gained a cut of a strain called Purple Helmet he says its very good and is currently growing her out. Double Purple Doja a creation of TGA knocks me on my *** but I still would not place it in a league with an Apollo 13 or something like OG Kush.
Other Northern California Strains:
Granddaddy purple, Godfather purple, Super Purple Kush, Gods Gift, Urkle, Purple Midnight, Purple Rainbow, Purple Princess, Purple Fire, Purple Cream, Purple Rainbow, Lavender, Purple Friday, Purple Magic, Ray's Purple. Most of these can be found in the clubs but they could all be a few strains grown by different people with jazzed up names.
I cant confirm it but many people think Urkle and Lavender are the same cutting.
We continue to explore this paradox of color and potency. I recently sampled some very Berry Surprise and while it looked amazing I didnt even finish sample it just had no real taste other than burning. For now we are growing the Lavender and crossing her with certain males to establish what traits she will pass on.
Lets look at ways to maximize coloring in your garden.
The first trick to inducing some good color change is what I like to call the fade this is when using an organic soil mix you achieve the perfect balance of N-P-K allowing the plant to use up all the available nitrogen and start loosing its Chlorophyll and the colored pigments are allowed to bleed through as the green fades. This can be achieved I am sure in Hydro as well but plants react so fast and absorb so well in water that its more normal for a hydro plant to be green and vibrant that multi colored like in soil organics.
The second thing that can really make a huge difference is a large temperature swing between day time and night time temps. The nice thing is with a simple A/c unit and a well built bud room its pretty easy to chill a 12x12 room to 60 degrees year round. That same room running 3000 watts will have a day time temperature of between 80-85 degrees making a 25 degree temperature swing. This will easily unlock that fall color hidden inside a strain provided the genetic coding is also there. I have to say from experience its a trait of a large percentage of Cannabis that I have grown. Bringing in outside air in colder climates can also be helpful in adding some color as well as keeping bugs in check and a bud room can stand bitter cold if your not worried about reservoir temps.
Last proper application of nutrients is very important if you jack up the N far into bud your not going to see this fading and you may even effect the taste I have found plants that faded to early actually tasted sweeter but then you hurt your yields. Using a good catalyst can also help a lot as the citric acid and sugars seem to speed up the maturation process I currently use sweet leaf at week 4 and week 6. There are many good products and many old timers even make up there own using cane sugar and citric acid but I think the big companies have better research to support there recipes.
Ok so if you read all that you should have learned something.
This is the bud that came to me as Lavender which I later confirmed is actually Urkle A Cutting was acquired lets find out about that in the next segment.
Instead of starting at germinating some seeds we will go all the way back to me finding the mother strain.
The Color Purple
By Subcool
Purple Cannabis is all the rage in the Nocal clubs and it is highly sought after by both consumers and producers, lets explore this phenomenon and learn some things about Cannabis and Color. Do we see any great demand for purple today? Not in normal things because theyre readily available but when it comes to Purple Pot its another story.
Cannabis floral clusters are basically green, but changes may take place later in the season, which alter the color to include various shades. The intense green of chlorophyll usually hides the color of accessory pigments, Chlorophyll starts to loose its vibrant green color late in the season and anthocyanin pigments also contained in the tissues are uncovered and the amazing colors are produced at this time. Purple, resulting from anthocyanin accumulation, is extremely common in Cannabis, this color modification is usually triggered by seasonal change, and also can be influenced indoor by a temperature drop of between 20-30 degrees
This does not mean, however, that Purple is controlled by environment alone and it can be passed on genetically. For purple color to develop upon maturation, a strain must have the genetically controlled metabolic potential to make anthocyanin pigments and be responsiveness to environmental change such as cold nighttime temps. This means a strain can have the genetic potential to change color but if conditions never exist you may never know it. I have grown Jacks Cleaner for a long time and when I moved west and it found some dramatically cooler temps I got a nice maroon/ purple coloring at maturity.
There are other pigments that effect the color of mature cannabis for example Carotenoid is largely responsible for the yellow, orange, red, and brown colors in buds. I find this effect is much easier to accomplish in Organics and soil but in order to really call a strain Purple it needs to have more than colored outer leaves and the inner buds need to actually be Purple.
One aspect that I also find interesting is the purple potency debate, for those that have collected a few plants that produce Purple buds under any conditions like certain Black Russian phenotypes we have noticed something that seems to be consistent. When growing out females of a hybrid that have both color females and non colored females the colored one seems to always be less potent.
This doesnt mean I havent smoked great Purple weed,I just find it a rarity.
My friends grows a local Purple Urkle Clone that taste out of this world. It is a clone only strain that originated in Northern California It may be one of the better tasting Purple strains around and its purple to the center of the cola, every single part of the plant is purple. I would give the high intensity an 8 very enjoyable, something I might keep around and so far the one I like the most. After an afternoon session I determined its main attraction is the lip smacking Grape/Lavender taste of the smoke.
The Purps and Mendo Purps are both rumored to be good but I wasnt impressed with the first Mendo I sampled, it didnt taste at all grapey or berry like I may have been a poor sample though. We also sampled many strains in Amsterdam with color but none stood out. There are so many Purple cuts in California its hard to really know what any one really is but I recently smoked a Sputnik 2 female with nice outer purple that kicked my *** in about 3 hits. Recently Badboy gained a cut of a strain called Purple Helmet he says its very good and is currently growing her out. Double Purple Doja a creation of TGA knocks me on my *** but I still would not place it in a league with an Apollo 13 or something like OG Kush.
Other Northern California Strains:
Granddaddy purple, Godfather purple, Super Purple Kush, Gods Gift, Urkle, Purple Midnight, Purple Rainbow, Purple Princess, Purple Fire, Purple Cream, Purple Rainbow, Lavender, Purple Friday, Purple Magic, Ray's Purple. Most of these can be found in the clubs but they could all be a few strains grown by different people with jazzed up names.
I cant confirm it but many people think Urkle and Lavender are the same cutting.
We continue to explore this paradox of color and potency. I recently sampled some very Berry Surprise and while it looked amazing I didnt even finish sample it just had no real taste other than burning. For now we are growing the Lavender and crossing her with certain males to establish what traits she will pass on.
Lets look at ways to maximize coloring in your garden.
The first trick to inducing some good color change is what I like to call the fade this is when using an organic soil mix you achieve the perfect balance of N-P-K allowing the plant to use up all the available nitrogen and start loosing its Chlorophyll and the colored pigments are allowed to bleed through as the green fades. This can be achieved I am sure in Hydro as well but plants react so fast and absorb so well in water that its more normal for a hydro plant to be green and vibrant that multi colored like in soil organics.
The second thing that can really make a huge difference is a large temperature swing between day time and night time temps. The nice thing is with a simple A/c unit and a well built bud room its pretty easy to chill a 12x12 room to 60 degrees year round. That same room running 3000 watts will have a day time temperature of between 80-85 degrees making a 25 degree temperature swing. This will easily unlock that fall color hidden inside a strain provided the genetic coding is also there. I have to say from experience its a trait of a large percentage of Cannabis that I have grown. Bringing in outside air in colder climates can also be helpful in adding some color as well as keeping bugs in check and a bud room can stand bitter cold if your not worried about reservoir temps.
Last proper application of nutrients is very important if you jack up the N far into bud your not going to see this fading and you may even effect the taste I have found plants that faded to early actually tasted sweeter but then you hurt your yields. Using a good catalyst can also help a lot as the citric acid and sugars seem to speed up the maturation process I currently use sweet leaf at week 4 and week 6. There are many good products and many old timers even make up there own using cane sugar and citric acid but I think the big companies have better research to support there recipes.
Ok so if you read all that you should have learned something.
This is the bud that came to me as Lavender which I later confirmed is actually Urkle A Cutting was acquired lets find out about that in the next segment.
